Happy BlogaBirthday: The Evolution of my Nail Skills

A year ago, I was a student in London, cold, soaking wet, and bored out of my mind merely studying for exams. I remembered that Sleek palettes were all the rage then, and that some of my American friends would want to view swatches of them. So I swatched a couple of palettes, and posted them on my blog, and OFAF was born. Fast forward to a year later - 12 months, 300 posts and 1000 followers later, OFAF is still the same, albeit with better photography and writing (I hope!).

I don't have a blogivesary giveaway, because I am already running a giveaway for a Karmin G3 Salon Pro Flat Iron, and there's another giveaway that I'm excited about (hint: it's perfume!). But in the spirit of things, here's a look back at how my skills have evolved over the year.

Here is my first ever post on the blog - it was an NOTD (Nail of the Day), the awfully chic Nails Inc Jermyn Street. OMG, my nails were awful. They were just mere nubbins back then, and they weren't even all the same length or shape. The fact that the polish wasn't splattered all over my fingers is a testament to the awesome Nails Inc quality.



Here's another really ugly NOTD. The colour is gorgeous, however, it's Sally Hansen's Opulent Cloud, still one of my favourites.



Over time, I tried out Konading. Here is my first ever Konad (and it sucked):



And then I started experimenting with flakies, and more adventurous colour (previously my stash was ALL exclusively pinks and purples - WTF was I thinking at that time?!) Such a waste...all those months spent painting on boring pinks and purples when I could have worn something cool. Like a duochrome. Or a flakie. Or something.

This was one of my first flakie manicures.



And then I had dry skin. As you can see in the previous photo, it was REALLY BAD DRY SKIN. I didn't know what to do about it! Fortunately you girls clued me in, and I got myself some Burts Bees Cuticle Cream, and some CND Cuticle Remover. I also just got in Lush Lemony Flutter, and I hearts it!

Also, back then I didn't know a thing about shaping my nails. They were long enough, but I didn't shape them, because I didn't realize how important shape was to the look of the nail. But after seeing a few more pictures, I wanted square tips. I really like the look of square tips, although my nails seem to naturally grow out in a squoval shape.



So I started shaping my nails, and slowly my skills started improving:



And eventually, slowly, my nails started looking a little better, and my skills improved a little too. This is the latest nail post I did, and I do think it's come a way from my first post on the blog, although it's nowhere near the awesome skills of some other bloggers I know of.



Isn't it awesome how, if you put a little effort, your nails can improve? It just goes to show that no matter how terrible your nails are, there is always hope!